In 1946 Cy Connors sold Rainbow
Garden to Bob Wingard, who continued to run it much as it had been for
the previous 20 years.

One practice Wingard continued
was featuring local orchestras, which performed on Saturday nights,
while the nationally known musicians performed on Sundays. Wingard noted
that area bands earned their keep at the Rainbow.

I made my money on Saturday
nights, he said. Sunday night (when the name bands played) was a glamour
night. I was lucky to break even.

[Wingard] recalled the time
that Harry James came to Rainbow.

The first time Harry James
was here, he was sick. I mean he had the flu. But you would never
have known it. He was a showman.

After his performance, James
retired to the Fremont Hotel for a meal and some sleep. Before going
to bed, he called his wife, actress Betty Grable. It was the phone conversation
heard ‘round Fremont.

He called his wife and
told her, ‘Yeah I’m staying at a hotel in a little town where you
don’t even have to walk up stairs to go to your room.'

Bob [Wingard] recounted.

The telephone operator
was listening in, so the next day it was all over town what he had
said.

[Excerpted
from John Moor, "See You At Rainbow," The Bridge, June
2, 1988]

The best known local orchestra
performing at Rainbow Garden was Charlie Haaser and his Rainbow Rhythm
Orchestra. Haaser’s band began performing at Rainbow Garden in 1946
and continued to play there until the Garden closed in 1959. Other local
orchestras featured at the Garden were led by Lew Waterman, Will Keating
and Charlie Lenhart.

During Bob Wingard’s tenure
Rainbow Garden continued to be a popular singles spot. With topnotch
musical entertainment, a fountain, a mirror ball, and marble dance floor,
the Garden offered an atmosphere for romance. It was not unusual for
the dance hall to be packed with 1,500 to 2,000 people on a weekend
night. High school proms were held there, and other gala events such
as the local hospital's Charity Ball.